U Runt

How do you take care of the runt of a litter?

My miniature schnuazer just had five puppies. There is one that is smaller than the rest that I guess is the runt. He isn't eating at all and when I try to feed him the milk supplement he just cries. What can I do?

Public Comments

1. There is probably something wrong with him. Take him to the vet to check for a cleft palate or another problem. You may need to tube feed hom or feed him with a dropper. Sometimes with these tiny ones, they jsut won't make it and will fade pretty quickly despite our best efforts. Good luck! I hope he makes it.
2. You need to make time for him to eat.. The bigger puppies can get food, you need to make sure the little guy gets in there.. Check your bottle, you don't want the hole in the nipple to be too big or too small. You want the milk replacer to be warm but not hot.. Did you make him pee and poop?? HE need to be stimulated to go. Take him to the vet and have him checked out, might be something wrong.. might have a cleft palate. THe vet is better able to help you, he can actually check the puppy out..
3. You must make sure that it drinks from the mom. At this time your dog is going by the mothers scent, and since the bottle with formula does not smell or feel like the mother, it will not drink from it. If you can not get it to drink from the mother (if mother wont let you) then get a towel and have the mother lay on it so that the scent will get on it. Then rap the towel around the bottle (you might want to get the mothers scent on the tip of the bottle) and try feeding it then. May God help you! Abad+ http://dogdirectory.us
4. Take him and the mother away from the other puppies... let him eat by himself that way he doesn't get pushed out of the way. This is what we did with the runt my lab had and she did fine... she was always a little smaller but definately started to catch up to her brothers and sisters. They just need a little more help! If he still doesn't eat then he needs to go to the vet or you are going to lose him!!! Good Luck~ Congrats on the puppies!
5. Get a small syringes like a TB syringe or the vet has some feeding syringes. Try giving a drop at a time to the puppy. About 1cc is enough for a tiny pup. Feed every two hours for the next day or two. Just keep at it . Maybe even a few or couple of drops every 5 minutes. First will help to put a little Karo syrup or a sugar syrup on pups tongue. Just a pea sized. If puppy is having low blood sugar this will perk the pup up so he will nurse. It's pretty common for new puppies to be hypoglycemic. After the sugar try the drops of milk replacer. After puppy perks up try laying mom on a bed with just this pup. Keep the others warm with a heating pad or warmer. Try squeezing out a bit from mom. Maybe the pup will suck just a little. Something is always better than nothing. A little sugar water with a dropper is good too. Also try the milk replacer with a dropper. Might be easier for you to use than a feeding syringe. Keeping pups warm is the most important thing. A cold pup is a dead pup. Becoming cold upsets the pups ability to use the food he drinks. Sometimes we loose a puppy. Just part of the process. If you do, try to focus on enjoying the others. It's pretty neat to see pups lying nursing from mom with tails wagging or up. You are doing all you can. Sometimes our best just doesn't work.
6. You're probably trying to feed him like a baby.Laying him on his back.It's not a baby it's a dog.Lay him on his tummy.I found the easiest way to feed is to recline on the couch and lay the pup on my chest with a towel under him. Hopefully you have a syringe or bottle small enough for him to nurse from.Don't try to force milk down his throat.Open his mouth just enough to squirt a little milk on his tongue then hold his little head and put the nipple or tip of the syringe right on his mouth and let a drop out under his nose.He'll get the idea and nurse unless there's a serious deformity.Then he needs to go to the vet immediately. Also you can't try to give him cold fluids.Just like a baby it has to be slightly warm or you'll give him a bad tummy ache.And please don't warm it in the microwave because it kills all the good stuff in it the puppy needs.Fill your bottle and heat it on the stove in a pan of hot water.
7. If he's otherwise healthy, the problem is that he most likely gets pushed away from his mother by his larger siblings. You need to physically place him on a teat and ensure that he latches on. I'm sure he doesn't want a dropper or anything else in his mouth at this point. He wants mom's teat!